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I don't want to be premature in my pessimism, but based on the Flames' performance so far this season: "What is the threshold for you [as a Flames fan] to start wearing the paper bag this season?" Example(s): Flames lose X amount of games; Flames are X amount of points away from a playoff spot in [insert month]. Please comment down below your thoughts/answer to the questions. BONUS follow up question(s): What will you be writing on your paper bag, if you do decide to wear it?

As a Flames fan, I'm fuming that Brad Treliving a star player like Auston Matthews to a few more years. Remember that he failed to do the same with Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau. Honestly, the Maple Leafs are becoming more insufferable in my eyes so long as Treliving remains GM of that team. The more that I see former Flames do better in other cities (sure Gaudreau and Columbus finished dead last in the East last year but they got Adam Fantilli in the draft), the more I am starting to put on my tin foil and believing there is a conspiracy within the Flames organization that is preventing them from having any sort of success whether it's at managing, coaching, or playing for the team. It's not even training camp and I'm already waving the white flag on this upcoming season. So much salty feelings towards Treliving who basically brought our team to the grave (and Sutter helped burying us in there), and also cucking us for the Maple Leafs. I'm like the meme picture attached below. *Good for you, Maple Leafs fans! Your star player is not leaving you* (this sentence is said sarcastically) Meanwhile I'm praying every night that the Maple Leafs continue to never get anywhere close to the Stanley Cup Finals so long as Treliving is GM of that team; also wallowing in my sadness for the impending 10+ years of Flames misery.

This time I'm more serious with this post I'm aware that it's still the offseason and there's still time before the season begins. However I cannot shake off the feeling that something is off with the Calgary Flames. Even when Sutter and Treliving are gone there is still a black cloud over the Flames. This comes in the form of Lindholm, Hanifin, and [maybe] Backlund still being on the team despite their public requests to not sign with the team (ie. be traded out of here). I'm no psychologist, but I think the locker room morale coming to this season is still on the low side despite the managerial/coaching changes. And with three players still on the team but not wanting to be here, that could potentially the poison the vibe of this team. Any chance of this team to improve can be hindered by few people who may not have their hearts in it. I don't want to pressure Conroy anymore, but he has to make another move either before the season begins or before trade deadline. Not only are you allowing the bad press/uncertainty to circle this team throughout the course of 2023-24 season, you are repeating the same mistakes as the Gaudreau/Tkachuk saga. I would like to hear your thoughts on the situation (ie. give me your vibe check on the Flames). Am I reading the situation wrong or is there truly something off with the team? Are you more optimistic or pessimistic for this upcoming season? Let me know in the comments down below.

I'm aware that we're nowhere near preseason but I decided to make this *joke* (although seriously pessimistic) standings predictions for the upcoming 2023-24 NHL season. My logic is, the more hated you are (according to me) the higher up in the standings you will be. I also put in paranthesis/bracket the most hated person/thing from each team. Here is a google doc to my tier list of most hated to least hated teams: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1npSBE_E6TWMg0zPVa3EuL5QDa9n7i0PORryxuXNNBPM/edit?usp=sharing Atlantic 1. Toronto (Brad Treliving) 2. Florida (Matthew Tkachuk) 3. Tampa Bay (2004) 4. Boston (Milan Lucic) 5. Montreal (Martin St. Louis/Sean Monahan trade) 6. Ottawa Senators (Brady Tkachuk) 7. Detroit Red Wings (Steve Yzerman???) 8. Buffalo Sabres (better future than us?) Metropolitan 1. Columbus (Johnny Gaudreau) 2. NY Rangers (Adam Fox) 3. Washington (Matthew Phillips and Mitch Love) 4. New Jersey (Tyler Toffoli trade/Dougie Hamilton) 5. Pittsburgh (Crosby, Malkin and Letang) 6. Carolina (Lindholm/Hanifin trade) 7. New York Islanders (Travis Hamonic trade/Casey Cizikas slew foot) 8. Philadelphia Flyers (John Tortarella?) Central 1. Chicago Blackhawks (Connor Bedard/sex scandal cover-up) 2. Arizona Coyotes (Gary Bettman) 3. St. Louis (Jordan Binnington/Brian Elliot trade) 4. Dallas (2020/Jamie Benn) 5. Colorado (2019) 6. Winnipeg (Mark Schiefele) 7. Minnesota (Kaprizov?/Hartman injuring Kylington?) 8. Nashville Predators (Mark Jankowski) Pacific 1. Edmonton (everyone/everything, especially Evander Kane) 2. Vegas (everyone/everything) 3. Vancouver (JT Miller) 4. Anaheim (Honda centre losing streak/Trevor Zegras) 5. Los Angeles (Drew Doughty) 6. Seattle (Expansion team salt) 7. San Jose (honestly not sure) 8. Calgary (everyone/everything) BONUS: Stanley Cup Final Prediction 2024 that will inflict the most pain [for Flames fans]: Toronto Maple Leafs vs Edmonton Oilers Honourable mentions for other teams in Stanley cup final that will also inflict pain: Florida, Columbus, Vegas, Chicago, NY Rangers, Tampa Bay Comment down below if you have your own *joke* standings predictions for 2023-24 NHL season. I could post another update of this depending on if Elias Lindholm and/or Noah Hanifin get traded before the season begins...

One last crack at the can for Trading Lindholm, Hanifin and Backlund out. Here's my [final] Arimchair GM Flames team for now: https://www.capfriendly.com/forums/thread/746575?post_id=4304396

BINGO. Yes the simple fact is both Lindholm and Hanifin are gonna be too expensive or ask too much than what the Flames are willing (also probably cap/financially unable) to pay for. Also Hanifin is alerting us about wanting to leave for the states. Lindholm continues to be hesitant about wanting to commit to Calgary. A light bulb should shine in Conroy's head that these 2 are not part of his plans of a team of players who want to play for the Flames. Better give up the fight, relinquish your assets, let the future of darkness settle in. The old failures need to leave. Let's try to build something better this time.

Well, let's consider the Toffoli for Sharangovich model for bad Conroy trades. We might as well get hosed now than let them go for nothing. The people we get back will not be part of our long term future but it's better than just holding on to Lindholm and Hanifin until they leave for nothing. After all, finding players who want to play to Calgary will take years maybe even decades to accomplish. So let's just get rid of the old guard ASAP. Gotta rid ourselves of the Treliving stench immediately.

My third attempt at an armchair GM Flames team. This is a package trade of Lindholm and Hanifin to Boston. https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/4439849

TBH I'm not sure if that comment was sarcasm, because I sure ain't please with Conroy's GM'ing so far. BTW, I've created an alternate (part 2) of my Armchair GM team. Please check and comment on it if you want: https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/4436614

I am dedicating this thread to writing pretend letters to Flames management giving them suggestions to make trades to start the new Flames culture (also may be passive aggressive sometimes). Here is my first Capfriendly Armchair GM trade proposals. https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/4435506 Comment down below your own trade proposals or any other offseason moves you demand Conroy to do. You can share your Armchair GM Flames teams as well

I'm aware that the offseason is still going at the time I'm posting this guide, but let it be known that the DARK AGES OF FLAMES HOCKEY IS UPON US. Here are my reasons to be pessimistic about the Flames this upcoming season: 1. Craig Conroy. It was 0-100 in terms of switching from optimism to pessimism for Conroy's time as GM. Screwing up the Toffoli trade, drafting mediocre again (I prefer Perreault, Barlow, or even Cristall over Honzek for my first round pick any day), and losing Matthew Phillips to free agency. It's not even a month into his tenure, and I'm already starting to hate Conroy already. He's making the same mistakes that Brad Treliving made from his past years of GM'ing this team. Like the saying goes "Meet the New Boss; Same as the Old Boss" 2. Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, Mackenzie Weegar. One common thing they all have: stupid long, stupid expensive contracts. Huberdeau should stop posting cringey (balloon blowing) workout videos and focus on being a better hockey player to justify that $10.5 m/year contract. The same microscopic treatment also applies to Kadri ($7 m/year) and Weegar ($6.25 m/year). If I have to hear more complaints from those guys regarding coaching, etc., I'm officially tuning them out (Sutter's gone, put up or shut up time...) 3. Jacob Markstrom. I lost count this past season of how many times Markstrom screwed the team over by either going out of his net to play the puck (giving it up to the other team), or letting in a softie goal that cost the team the game. I don't care about "bounce back" season rhetoric. He's on my hate list and will continue to be until he stops making those stupid mistakes. Just let Vladar or Wolf play more games FFS! I could put in more reasons (maybe even add a Murray Edwards/ownership rant as well) but these are my main reasons for seeing darkness not just for this year but for the next few years of Flames hockey (probably as long as Huberdeu/Kadri/Weegar contracts 7-8 years). Ryan Huska's coaching tenure is TBD. Here are the list of players with one year left on their deal (and are giving Flames fans panic attacks about their eventual departure): Elias Lindholm, Mikael Backlund, Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, Nikita Zadorov, Dennist Gilbert, Oliver Kylington. You can also add Dillon Dube even though he's RFA. Now for my favourite part of the Hatewatch guide. The hierachy of [other] teams I hate the most: Top tier hate (Boo them every time they enter the Saddledome): 1. Edmonton Oilers (our provincial rivals; the team speaks for itself, giving us an inferiority complex since the 80's and will continue to do so as long as McDavid/Draisaitl are there). Also Gulutzan (former coach) and Derek Ryan+Brett Kulak (former Flames) are there SMH. 2. Vancouver Cancuks (our other rival; they still have Elias Pettersen and Quinn Hughes on that team. If only we had players that stayed with us even in our darkest moments. Speaking of which...) 3. Columbus Blue Jackets (as long as Johnny Gaudreau remains on that squad, I [and maybe some other Flames fans] will continue to scorn him for years to come. May the Blue Jackets continue to finish dead last in the league and continue to remain unlucky at the draft). 4. Florida Panthers (as long as Tkachuk and Bennett are on that team, I will scorn them every chance they get. Their miracle playoff run rubbed too much salt in the wound. I'm praying every night that the Florida Panthers never make it back to the Cup Finals ever again). 5. Tampa Bay Lightning (three words: NEVER FORGET 2004) 6. Toronto Maple Leafs (in any other year, I would care less about the success or failings of the Leafs; but this time, it's different. Brad Treliving is now GM of that team. This man screwed our team's future for years to come with the Huberdeau/Weegar signing and the Monahan trade where we lost a 1st round pick as well. I should start a TikTok account where I flash the middle finger to the screen every time Brad's face shows up on screen during media interviews). I swear if the Leafs win the cup during Treliving's tenure there, I'm officially cutting my TV cable cause I might quit watching hockey after that. 7. New York Rangers (Adam Fox. A cruel reminder that American players are a ticking time bomb. It's not a matter of if they leave us. It's when. This prospect doesn't even want to play a game with us. How petty IMO). High tier hate (thumbs down but maybe boos every once in a while): 1. Our other Pacific Division rivals (Vegas Golden Knights (boo to you guys winning the cup), Los Angeles Kings (Trevor Lewis returns there SMH), San Jose Sharks (no comment), Anaheim Ducks (no comment, although still haunted by Honda Centre losing streak), Seattle Kraken (how the heck are expansion teams doing better than us?)) 2. Montreal Canadiens (that Sean Monahan trade has screwed us for years to come. Martin St. Louis [the coach] still haunts me in my dreams) 3. Chicago Blackhawks (seriously??? getting Bedard after losing Kane and Toews?!) 4. Boston Bruins (Milan Lucic being a cruel reminder that we allowed his $5.25/year contract to fester in our cap space and indirectly leading to Gaudreau and Tkachuk leaving. Once again Treliving, you suck. Also that trade with Edmonton to get Lucic still haunts me as that had the butterfly effect of letting Edmonton thrive while Calgary continues to suffer. Seriously Treliving why did you trade with our rivals? Are you a double agent for the Edmonton Oilers?). 5. New Jersey Devils (Remember Flames fans, Treliving traded heaven and earth to get Tyler Toffoli; yet, Conroy only got chump change when trading him away. FML) Also Dougie Hamilton (former Flame) is there. 6. Washington Capitals (Matthew Phillips; a cruel reminder of the Darryl Sutter effect where promising talent leave on Sutter's watch). Don't care tier and May have compassion for tier are TBD. This may depend on how the rest of the offseason goes. The list of teams I have not decided on whether to hate, be neutral, or show compassion for: Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, Winnipeg Jets, Nashville Predators, St. Louis Blues, Arizona Coyotes, Buffalo Sabres, Ottawa Senators (Brady Tkachuk still triggers me about Matthew Tkachuk), Detroit Red Wings, Carolina Hurricanes, New York Islanders (that Hamonic trade still haunts me), Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers). I will post an updated guide around preseason. For now, LET THE MISERABLE TIMES FOR FLAMES FANS BEGIN! Sometimes I wonder if it's worth building a new arena for a team that has given us nothing but pain for past few decades... 😞😢😭 PS if Darryl Sutter gets reehired by another NHL team I'm also raging in anger! Then again Mike Babcock got hired by Columbus, so anything's possible...

Before Free Agency officially starts, I would like to share my Spotify playlist for what would likely be a miserable (possibly hellish) next few years for the Calgary Flames. Here's the link to my playlist: (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3kRPwTiRDDH0rVL3otQOtO) I've taken suggestions from other people from my previous post (link: https://community.fans.flames.nhl.com/topic/23719-spotify-playlist-for-the-impending-misery-of-the-calgary-flames-future/) as well as added my own songs to this list. Here is the list of songs that in that Spotify playlist: 1. Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash (as requested by @conundrumed; our win song but you can now hear it ironically as we're all "burning in a ring of fire" 2. Disco Inferno by The Trammps (it may be disco, but you listen to the lyrics it's about things burning down) 3. Burning Down the House by Talking Heads (as requested by @redfire11; The title says it all, Craig Conroy is continuing Brad Treliving's work of "Burning down 'this' house") 4. Set Fire to the Rain by Adele (it may be pop, but fire+rain=misery for the Calgary Flames) 5. We didn't the start the fire by Billy Joel (The 'we' is us Flames fans; we didn't create this tire fire of a hockey team; idiot management and terrible coaching/players have created this fire themselves) 6. Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple (same reasons as the Talking Heads song) 7. Burn My Dread: Persona 3 Theme Song (I have to admit, I've been playing Persona 3 a lot lately; the opening song sort of made me think of Calgary Flames and the Dread they're going to burn in us for the next few years). 8. Chariots of Fire by Vangellis (another song to think ironically; no running in slo motion on the beach; just imagine any chance of our team becoming a bandwagon is zero to none as it keeps bursting into flames). 9. Hearts Burst into Fire by Bullet for My Valentine (essentially a breakup song with fire in the title/lyrics; also NHL 09 soundtrack song with Dion Phaneuf on the cover; how fitting...) 10. Burn it down by Linkin Park (as requested by @sak22; just reapply the reasoning from Talking Heads song to here too). 11. Burn it to the Ground by Nickelback (as requested by @sak22; just reapply the reasoning from Talking Heads song to here too; also bonus points for Alberta based band though probably hated by most Albertans as well...?) 12. Blow up the Outside World by Soundgarden (as requested by @conundrumed; our team is going to get blown up from the inside out, much like this song) 13. Mother of Sanctuary by Ryan Amon [Diablo 4 soundtrack] (as requested by @The_People1; this is the Lilith boss fight song; but I guess we're in hell...) This playlist is not permanent if you have any more suggestions for more songs. Please recommend down below. Remember, it must follow these themes: ->Themes of things burning down ->Fire is seen as negative consequences -> Misery because of things burning down Essentially, evoking the feeling of both fire and misery at the same time, but centered around topics of things burning down. I'll be more lenient. As the long as the song covers themes of things falling apart, or doom and gloom, you can suggest it to me. PS even though more additions can be made to this playlist, it is sort of fitting that the base playlist has 13 songs (sort of reminds me of a player who wore #13 who kickstarted our descent into misery...)

Thinking about making a Spotify playlist compiling a bunch of songs related to the [potential] disaster of the Calgary Flames losing more players. Please write in the comments what songs should I add to this particular playlist. To make it more specific for what I'm looking for: ->Themes of things burning down ->Fire is seen as negative consequences -> Misery because of things burning down etc. Essentially, evoking the feeling of both fire and misery at the same time, but centered around topics of things burning down. Would like to hear your suggestion. Spotify playlist will be created and shared with the Calgary Flames forum around the time of free agency.

I've just edited the Google doc to create a new REDUX list of preferred prospects now adding more factors to the list (height, weight, handedness). More details would be found under the tab: Calgary Flames preferences REDUX I awarded bonus points if prospect is right-handed, the taller the prospect the better, the lighter [weight] the prospect means more room to put more pounds on in the future. The hierachy of criteria ratings preferences go as follows: Shooting>Skating>Compete>Hockey sense>Playmaking>Puck Skills>Handedness>Height>Weight Here's the list to the REDUX preferences and availability rankings: 1. Tom Willander 2. Gabe Perreault 3. Andrew Cristall 4. David Reinbacher 5. Braden Yager 6. Matthew Wood 7. Ryan Leonard 8. Dmitri Simashev, Nate Danielson 10. Colby Barlow 11. Gracyn Sawchyn 12. Daniil But 13. Axel Sandin Pelikka 14. Quentin Musty, Calum Ritchie 16. Samuel Honzek 17. Eduard Sale 18. Ethan Gauthier 19. Mihail Gulyayev 20. the rest due to no ratings available: Riley Heidt, David Edstrom, Gavin Brindley, Jayden Perron, Otto Stenberg Here's the link to the Google doc again: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NggbxiMxVwdMgglW6hpCyv5ufwajo9unarG3BTqKHHM/edit?usp=sharing

Also irrelevant to this post, but I do miss Will Scouch (Scouching Youtube channel). He had a lot more in-depth look at prospects using analytics and eye test. Here is his youtube page and internet website, if you are curious to know what I'm talking about. Scouching - Scouching - Home Scouching - YouTube

I've edited the document by creating more tabs for everyone else to put in their rankings as well as rank their own preferences. Please reply in this forum if you would be interested in creating your own rankings and I'll add more tabs as we go.

I also made my reply its own separate post. Here's the link: Also here's the youtube channel I got my ratings from: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=blue+chip+prospects Please refer to draft ranking videos from Blue Chip Prospect for the ratings...

I’ve cited Blue Chips Prospect (a YouTube prospect scouting report channel) as the source for the ratings. I’ll provide the link to the channel as well as the link to the specific videos that I got the ratings from. blue chips prospect uses 6 rating criteria for each prospect: skating, compete, hockey sense, shooting, playmaking, puck skills. He scores them on a scale of 1-10 When I did my adjusted ratings I emphasized what ratings I preferred over others. In my 2nd tab to the side of all the players ratings and rankings. I think [as a Flames fan] Calgary should emphasize skating and shooting over the other criteria; my adjusted rating is a sum of all the ratings divided by six, but: 1. shooting (rating not adjusted) 2. Skating (second preferred, so multiply by factor if 5/6) 3. Compete (third preferred, so multiply by factor of 4/6 or 2/3) 4. Hockey sense (fourth preferred, so multiply by factor if 3/6 or 1/2) 5. Playmaking (fifth preferred, so multiply by factor of 2/6 or 1/3) 6. Puck skills (least preferred so multiply by factor of 1/6) Keep in mind, I have no access to analytics websites, so my reasoning could potentially lack logic. I will allow people to make copies of the Google sheet, if they have a difference in what they preferred in terms of those six criteria. I hope this answers your question. link to blue chip prospects: https://youtube.com/@bluechipprospect link to draft ranking videos (with ratings): 32-25: 24-15: 14-1:

Calgary Flames draft 2023 Rank based on availability and preferences: 1. Andrew Cristall 2. Tom Willander 3. Colby Barlow 4. Dmitri Simashev 5. David Reinbacher 6. Braden Yager 7. Ryan Leonard, Gabe Perreault 9. Quentin Musty 10. Nate Danielson, Mikhail Gulyayev 12. Samuel Honzek 13. Axel Sandin Pelikka 14. Eduard Sale 15. Matthew Wood 16. Gracyn Sawchyn 17. Daniil But 18. Ethan Gauthier (33) 19. Calum Ritchie 20. Riley Heidt, David Edstrom, Otto Stenberg, Jayden Perron, Gavin Brindley Top 32 draft printout 1. Connor Bedard 2. Adam Fantilli 3. Leo Carlsson 4. Matvei Michkov 5. Will Smith 6. Zach Benson 7. Ryan Leonard 8. Oliver Moore 9. Dalibor Dvorsky 10. Axel Sandin Pellikka 11. David Reinbacher 12. Matthew Wood 13. Colby Barlow 14. Gabe Perreault 15. Dmitri Simashev 16. Eduard Sale 17. Braden Yager 18. Andrew Cristall 19. Tom Willander 20. Nate Danielson 21. Quentin Musty 22. Calum Ritchie 23. Otto Stenberg 24. Samuel Honzek 25. Gavin Brindley 26. Daniil But 27. Mikhail Gulyayev 28. Riley Heidt 29. David Edstrom 30. Gracyn Sawchyn 31. Bradley Nadeau 32. Kasper Halttunen https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NggbxiMxVwdMgglW6hpCyv5ufwajo9unarG3BTqKHHM/edit

I Ranked based on both potential availability and preferences (Shooting>Skating>Compete>Hockey Sense>Playmaking>Puck Skills); more information in the link down below: 1. Andrew Cristall 2. Tom Willander 3. Colby Barlow 4. Dmitri Simashev 5. David Reinbacher 6. Braden Yager 7. Ryan Leonard, Gabe Perreault 9. Quentin Musty 10. Nate Danielson, Mikhail Gulyayev 12. Samuel Honzek 13. Axel Sandin Pelikka 14. Eduard Sale 15. Matthew Wood 16. Gracyn Sawchyn 17. Daniil But 18. Ethan Gauthier (33) 19. Calum Ritchie 20. Riley Heidt, David Edstrom, Otto Stenberg, Jayden Perron, Gavin Brindley Top 32 draft printout 1. Connor Bedard 2. Adam Fantilli 3. Leo Carlsson 4. Matvei Michkov 5. Will Smith 6. Zach Benson 7. Ryan Leonard 8. Oliver Moore 9. Dalibor Dvorsky 10. Axel Sandin Pellikka 11. David Reinbacher 12. Matthew Wood 13. Colby Barlow 14. Gabe Perreault 15. Dmitri Simashev 16. Eduard Sale 17. Braden Yager 18. Andrew Cristall 19. Tom Willander 20. Nate Danielson 21. Quentin Musty 22. Calum Ritchie 23. Otto Stenberg 24. Samuel Honzek 25. Gavin Brindley 26. Daniil But 27. Mikhail Gulyayev 28. Riley Heidt 29. David Edstrom 30. Gracyn Sawchyn 31. Bradley Nadeau 32. Kasper Halttunen For more information about how I came up with this list you can access the link down below. You can also edit the Google sheet if you wish. Also look at both tabs in the Google sheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NggbxiMxVwdMgglW6hpCyv5ufwajo9unarG3BTqKHHM/edit

Regardless of your religion, I think we as Flames fans need to unite on a prayer for [hopefully] prosperity for the Calgary Flames team/organization. The following list of prayers/lists for the Calgary Flames. May we pray that: 1. Craig Conroy does not repeat the same mistakes of past GMs (I'm looking at you Feaster and Treliving and Sutter before going back to coach) and makes the right moves (trades/signings/draft) that builds a proper team. 2. Ryan Huska can be a coach that galvanizes the team to play well together (don't repeat the Sutter issues; out with the old, in with the new) 3. Huberdeau, Kadri, Weegar and other members of the Calgary Flames rediscover their joy in playing hockey and resurrect their careers to become key members of the Flames success. 4. The young players (Coronato, Pelletier, Zary, Duehr, Wolf and [hopefully] Phillips) blossom into core contributing members for the Flames future years. 5. The new arena can revitalize the city, but please Murray Edwards, no more meddling in organization operations (I don't care if you like Sutter, he's no longer with us). Ultimately I pray for a brighter era in Calgary. I'm trying to be optimistic, but if everything falls apart (which it usually does according to the Flames history), may I express my pessimistic and sadistic thoughts and lay a curse on the following things that are not Calgary-related? 1. Edmonton Oilers and any non-Calgary Flames team. I frankly don't care about the Canada cup curse. Any cup not won by the Flames is a travesty to the organization. May any team not named the Calgary Flames not win a Stanley Cup in the future (also if Gaudreau and Tkachuk leave the Flames then I lay a curse that the same will happen to McDavid/Draisaitl of Edmonton and Marner/Matthews of Toronto). 2. Matthew Tkachuk and the Florida Panthers. You had your fun in the sun with your cinderella playoff run and Tkachuk suddenly becoming a playoff monster. May this be the last time we ever see Tkachuk in the Finals (if not in the playoffs, even better). Curse to you Tkachuk and frankly all of Florida (Tampa Bay still triggers 2004 painful memories; Florida, the less said about Tkachuk and Bennett, the better). 3. Johnny Gaudreau and the Columbus Blue Jackets. This is karma for not resigning with the Flames. I curse your team to continue finishing dead last for the foreseeable future and continue to be unlucky at the draft lottery. 4. Brad Treliving. Talk about failing upwards. You were the reason why we no longer have Gaudreau and Tkachuk and stuck with Huberdeau, Kadri and Weegar. Yet somehow you get hired to be GM of another team, let alone Toronto?! I curse that Treliving will also be the reason why the core four (Matthews, Marner, Tavares and Nylander) all leave the Toronto Maple Leafs. 5. Gary Bettman. This may be petty, but I curse Bettman into eventually moving the Arizona Coyotes out of that darn city and put them in a city that will actually care about hockey. Please free Arizona from their suffering. These list of prayers and curses can be boiled down to a few sentences but to summarize: if the 2022-23 Flames season is the lowest moment in franchise history in terms of maximum pain and misery, then I hope there is nowhere to go but up. We hope Conroy and Huska can ascend the Flames to prosperity. But if things go south or wrong (which it usually dose), then we shall lay a curse on anyone not named the Calgary Flames or not wearing a Calgary Flames uniform that they too should suffer just as much as we have suffered as a franchise post-1989.

I am (usually) a more pessimistic Flames fan who seems to witness the team in a vicious mediocre cycle, regardless of which GM is in charge (*cough* *cough* Jay Feaster *cough* *cough* Brad Treliving *cough* *cough*). GM Conroy promises to build a team culture on guys who actually want to be here. Unfortunately this may be limited by the Flames' current situation: The Four/Five Horsemen of the Cap Space Apocalypse: Huberdeau $10.5 million (a potential horror story of a contract if Huberdeau can't at least lead the team in scoring during his potential 8-year tenure) Kadri $7 million (similar to Huberdeau except not expecting him to lead the team in scoring, but at the very least pray that he does not become +/- horror story) Weegar $6.25 million (I guess decent for a defenceman, but is $6.25 million really worth being just decent? Better convert your defensive impact to more points...) Markstrom $6 million (Praying for a bounce back, but fear that his idiotic tendencies to misplay the puck out of the net will cost us more games. When is Wolf taking over?) *Coleman $4.9 million (*an asterisk, his dollars is not the problem, it's the NTC that will hamper us from trying to make any future moves with him should he fall off a cliff) I have to begrudgingly say that these are the men of our team for the future; GM Conroy, you will have to unfortunately pay for the sins of Treliving while Gaudreau is anticipating either Michkov or Fantilli to play with him and Tkachuk is living it up with Bennett in Florida. GM Conroy, if you don't want the Gaudreau/Tkachuk situation to reoccur again with the 7+ pending UFAs/RFAs on our roster for 2024 (Backlund, Lindholm, Toffoli, Hanifin, Tanev, Zadorov, Gilbert, Kylington, Dube (RFA), Ruzicka (RFA)), here's my suggestion for shaping the team: Send out an anonymous poll to those 2024 free agents during this 2023 summer offseason. Based on their answers, whoever shows the slightest doubt about staying long term with the team, you should immediately put them on the trade block and pray that at least a sizeable return will come back for those players during the offseason. Hopefully the players/prospects we get in return have a stronger affinity towards playing in Calgary than whomever we traded out. For the draft, these are my preferences for what kind of player I want the Flames to draft with their 1st round pick: -a right shot forward (preferable centre) who has natural goal-scoring/shooting talent (we lack enough punch in our scoring; if we can't get one via trade/free agency better get one for the future) -a right shot defenceman with a decent stride in his skating; bonus points for shooting skills (you can never have too many right shot defencemen, the more in our pipeline the better) -Ultimately we need more speed and goal scoring/shooting to supplement our current roster/prospect pool. This is my wishlist for GM Conroy. I have cautious optimism for Conroy's tenure, but I fear the same mistakes could be repeated again (after all, he was the assistant GM during the years of Feaster and Treliving). PS please no more impulsive free agency signings, I don't want another James Neal, Troy Brouwer, Nazem Kadri like signing where we're forced to buy them out, trade for other bad contracts like Lucic or at worst stuck with them forever. If we do sign free agents, just one-year tryouts and nothing more. For funsies, here's my super unrealistic capfriendly Armchair GM trade for Connor Bedard: https://www.capfriendly.com/forums/thread/716725?post_id=4116421

It’s official, I’m not sure I speak for most flames but I sure feel both salt and joy for Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett and Ryan Lomberg for their success in the playoffs. I’m just mad, that the Flames are basically giving other teams our great players for free while we’re stuck with dollar store versions of them (ie. Huberdeau, Kadri and Weegar). Maybe the Panthers win the cup, Flames fans rage quit, and everyone wants Huberdeau Weegar and Kadri out of the league for jeopardizing the organization’s future. Thanks a lot, Treliving and Sutter. (That last sentence was sarcasm BTW). 😢😂😅